Where's Pucca
by jrichville
Summary: Pucca hadn't chased him in days and it's driving Garu crazy. Where was she? Was she planning something? Or could it be... Dread filled Garu and he reasoned that it was definitely because she must be up to something. Because he was NOT disturbed that she may have given up on him. She wouldn't do that... right?


**Author's Notes: My very first fanfic!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the cartoon Pucca. I write purely for entertainment not for profit.**

**Where's Pucca?**

Garu was leaning against a tree watching his friends practice their martial arts. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets and his face was shadowed. He wasn't really paying any attention to the scene before him. His mind was consumed by thoughts of Pucca. Yes, Pucca. He'd laugh at himself except he couldn't find anything funny with his situation.

He hadn't seen her for days. Garu grunted incredulously. He rubbed a weary hand across his face.

_Where was she?_

0o0o0o

The first day when she didn't appear, Garu was suspicious. Was Pucca planning something? A trap maybe? He spent all day worrying- no, looking over his shoulder, waiting for the moment Pucca would jump at him and start their daily chase. When the night came, he could't sleep. He would lie on his bed, try to relax but when he would hear the slightest rustle outside his home, he would jump out, check every room for any sign of Pu- intruders before checking outside only to either find a rabbit, a frog or just the trees rustling from the breeze.

The next day, he was sure Pucca was planning something big. It wasn't like her to miss out a day irritating him with her stupid smile, her stupid hugs, and her stupid kisses. Then again, it wasn't like Pucca to booby trap him. She was more likely to impulsively jump at him and kiss him.

He could remember her warm and sweet lips pressing forcefully then opening against his in invitation… Garu shook his head. He was starting to weird himself out with the direction of his thoughts. He was determined to not let Pucca get to him. He trained all day, working himself into exhaustion just so he would stop thinking about _her._ But then, he thought, if he was too tired then he wouldn't be able to fight off her ambush. So he darted to the forest where he knew he'd be at his element. The forest was as familiar to him as his own house. There, he waited and waited but she never came. _What was she up to?_

Days passed and still there was no sign of Pucca. He didn't want to ask anybody about her whereabouts, they'd realize her absence was bugging Garu and if Pucca found out, she'd misunderstand. She'd think that he missed her when in fact, he didn't.

_Don't you?_A voice inside him asked, shaking his confidence. No! Of course he didn't miss her. She was annoying. She had been a thorn in his side for years.

_Yet things aren't the same without her, right?_He ignored the taunting voice. Why was he even thinking about her? He should be celebrating his freedom. He'd just wasted his Pucca-free days overthinking things. Well, not anymore. He trained, he meditated, and no one was there to disturb his solitude. He even went to the village, casually visited shops and other places just so he'd feel amused. That wasn't what he felt, though. He felt as if something was missing. His day felt somewhat lacklustre.

Without even meaning to, he was heading towards the Goh-Rong. He took a seat and he ordered a bowl of noodles. He wasn't actually hungry but eating gave him a reason to stay. He didn't want to dwell on the reason why he would want to do that, though.

Unknown to Garu, Pucca's uncles were watching him with puzzled frowns on their faces. They would look at him, then at each other then they would shrug in confusion. Every now and then, he would glance up from his bowl and look around him then he would go back to his food. Everytime the door would open, his head would snap towards it then his face would take on a pained expression as if they served him a bad batch of noodles before he would look dejectedly at his bowl. He seemed to be eating as slowly as possible. In the end, he ate nine bowls of noodles before he couldn't eat anymore and had to leave. It was amazing he didn't ask them if they could roll him out.

Garu groaned as he struggled to walk normally. He knew he shouldn't have eaten those last 5 bowls of noodles.

He was starting to act crazy. Pucca wasn't in the restaurant or in any of the other shops.

All right! He admitted to himself that he really went to those shops because he was looking for her. Heck, how could he deny it? He wasn't a fan of shopping. Now that he admitted it to himself though, there was no reason why he couldn't go to her house and see if she was there.

He reasoned, he just wanted to find out what kept her busy enough that she would forget about him. What was so important that she wouldn't see him for days? Garu frowned, he sounded… odd.

When he reached her house, he stealthily made his way to the back of the house. Listening for sounds of movement. His back was pressed to the wall as he moved towards an open window. He heard paper rustling and he peered inside. It was a bedroom and Pucca was on the bed lying on her stomach. There were several neatly stacked books on a bedside table and she was turning a page of a book she was reading.

She was reading a goddamned book.

_That was what was so important? Damn it to hell and back again! She found a book more exciting than him._

In his rage, Garu forgot about stealth and stomped away from her grumbling loudly as he did. Who cared about ninja stealth? Pucca wouldn't notice him if he danced naked in front of her. How could she? She was reading a book.

Days later, Garu had been feeling an unpleasant and totally unfamiliar sensation in his stomach. It felt as if someone twisted his insides and wouldn't let go. Also, his chest hurt as if someone pounded it with a mallet. He thought he was hungry, but when he went to Goh-Rong and ordered a bowl of noodles, he looked at it with disgust. What was he doing there? He did not want to see another bowl of noodles ever again. He stood up, paid for the untouched food and left the chefs scratching their heads.

Now, here he was wondering what the hell was going on with Pucca. And with him, for that matter. He still hadn't seen her since _that_day when he sneaked to her house.

Did she give up on him? Maybe she didn't want him anymore and realized she wasn't worth his time. _No!_His mind screamed that it wasn't true. It couldn't be true because… Hell! He didn't know why. He just didn't want it to be true. And what did _that_ mean?

She got under his skin. Despite everything,… he missed her. He missed the sheer joy on her face whenever she saw him. He missed her soft lips pressing to his.

"Damn it!" he realized that those were his first words for a week. It was the longest time he didn't speak since he broke his vow of silence long ago. It shocked him how deep in thought he had been that he actually forgot he could speak again.

"Hey Garu what's wrong? You've been acting weird for days. "Abyo said an eyebrow raised in query as he greedily gulped in air. He gestured time-out to Ching, who stopped herself short of punching him.

"It's Pucca," he said pushing himself from the tree. His voice sounded hoarse and he cleared his throat.

Ching wiped the sweat from her forehead as she looked at him curiously.

"She's not chasing me anymore. How come?" Garu said looking at everywhere except his companions.

Ching looked amused and tilted her head as searched his face. She must've found whatever it was she was looking for because her face broke into an ear-to-ear grin. "You actually, want her to chase you again! Oh, this is wonderful!" Before Garu could reply, Abyo stepped in front of him and stared at him.

Abyo gaped at him with a dumbfounded expression before he laughed teasingly. "You have a crush on Pucca, dont you?"

Garu glared at him. "That is none of your business," he retorted icily.

Abyo and Ching stared at him wide-eyed. They seemed to regard that like a confession of love since an outright denial was usually what he did. Garu wanted to snort in disbelief but he couldn't do it. Because he… loved her.

How ironic. He actually had feelings for Pucca and now she was ignoring him and it was driving him crazy. This was not happening.

"Garu, Pucca's been sick for the past week." Garu jerked and looked at Ching in surprise. He felt an intense relief that she wasn't actually ignoring him before he felt tenderness and concern rising in him. _She must bored if she's reading that many books._

A week? She'd been missing for only a week yet it felt much longer than that. A week without her and it nearly drove him nuts.

"You should come by her house. She'll love that," Ching said.

"I'll think about it," he said nonchalantly then slowly walked away not wanting to appear too eager to go. And when he was out of sight, he took off.

Abyo and Ching exchanged knowing looks.

"Took him long enough to realize," Abyo said shaking his head. Ching just raised a brow incredulously at him. "What?" he asked picking the remnants of his shirt from the ground. He ripped it earlier to impress- no, he ripped it just out of habit. Period.

"You're not actualy in the best position to judge Garu," Ching said meaningfully. Between the two friends, Garu was the least dense yet it had taken him years and the help of a persistent virus to finally realize his feelings for Pucca. Abyo, well, abyo's realization was a long time coming.

"I don't get it." Abyo blinked at her in confusion.

"You will." Ching flashing him a bright smile and Abyo, though confused, couldn't help but return a small smile.

Garu was running through the village as fast as he could. The villagers he passed would grin and ask where Pucca was thinking she must be well enough to start chasing Garu again. Still running, Garu would just shout back that he was on his way to her place. The people looked at him as if he sprouted another pair of arms right then and there.

When Garu reached the front of her house, he tried to straighten his attire and look presentable. He looked at his hand to the bouquet of red roses he bought earlier with mounting nervousness and amusement. He really had it bad.

He was about to knock when he realized that he didn't know what to say to her.

_Hi, Pucca. Hope you get well soon so you can start chasing me again. _Or, _I bought you some flowers. I know you can't smell them because your nasal passages are blocked, but hey, they still look good, right?_ How about, _Hi Pucca, just dropped by to ask if I could take you out and chase you sometime. _No, no and no.

He was still playing out different scenarios in his mind when the door swung open.

Her uncle, Linguini, who was about to return to the restaurant stood there gaping at Garu finding it strange to find him just staring at their door.

"I came to visit Pucca." With that, Linguine's face lit up as if something dawned on him.

Uncle Dumpling's head popped out the door. "Really?" Then he popped back inside the house. "Hey, Ho! You can unpack now. We don't need to train again. I was right. He was looking for Pucca. You owe me 5000 Won."

Garu winced in embarrassment.

"Never mind them, Garu. Come inside," Linguini said ushering him in.

Pucca was staring at her ceiling. God, she was bored. There was nothing else to do but read, sleep and eat. How, she longed to be outside again and see Garu. She sat up slowly her body aching as she reached for another tissue just in time for her to sneeze.

There was a knock on her door.

"Yes?" her voice sounded hoarse and strained. The door opened and Linguine poked his head in the doorway.

"Pucca you have a visitor," her uncle said. The girl struggled to sit up straighter as she waited for Ching and/or Abyo to come inside.

Pucca's eyes went wide when Garu walked in looking so good in his usual black attire. She had the sudden urge to leap at him again. Even if she wasn't sick, the bouquet of flowers in his hand and the sheepish expression on his face would've stopped her.

_Oh, God. Either she was sicker than she thought she was and was seeing hallucinations or she just died._

"Hey," he said. The small smile he gave her made heart lurch in her chest in a familiar manner.

_Oh my god._ She wasn't hallucinating and he really was in front of her. He really wasn't running away. He really was making his way towards her and even sitting beside her on the bed.

Pucca continued to stare at him silently. Garu could feel his face growing hot at her continued scrutiny. "I bought you some flowers. I know you can't smell them but-" Garu mentally cursed his wretched tongue. "Here." He handed her the roses.

Their dark eyes met and held. Her hair was down and mussed up. She had sleep marks on her flushed cheeks and her small nose was red. She looked good, Garu thought as they sat in silence for a while.

"Wow, you're really here, aren't you?" she blinked in amazement. "I thought you'd be out celebrating or taking a long Pucca-free vacation." she giggled. He smiled ruefully remembering that he tried to do just that.

"Well, it's not much fun out there without you." He said peircing her with an unreadable look.

"Really?" she asked looking at the flowers.

He shifted on the bed and reached for her hand. "Really."

She somehow knew what he was talking about but she just couldn't believe it. She could believe it from any other guy, but she could not easily believe it with Garu! She hoped this would happen but she couldn't believe it that after all these years it was happening now! Right now! She knew she was rambling inside her head but she couldn't stop it. _Calm down._

"Did you make that realization when you came to my house and peeked through my window?" Pucca teased. Garu winced in embarrassment at the memory.

"You saw that huh?" He wasn't looking at her face. Rather, he was fiddling with her hand and tracing small patterns with his thumbs. Pucca stopped herself from sighing.

"I thought I only imagined seeing your reflection on the mirror but then I heard you grumbling and cursing every living thing on the planet." Pucca said her voice low and breathy. She was mesmerized by the sight of their hands clasped together.

Garu chuckled before he gave her a sad smile. "I thought you were ignoring me for days. I thought you didn't-" Pucca laid a finger on his lips to stop him.

"Sshh… I wouldn't do that Garu. I've loved you since forever because you were worth the wait."

Garu frowned. "Were? Why past tense?"

"I'm done waiting for you." She said simply. Garu tensed and his face shadowed in pain.

"I see." His throat was tight and he was about to stand up when Pucca clutched a handful of his sleeve and smiled sweetly at him.

"Yup, after all this time, you finally do." She peered up at him from beneath her lashes and Garu hated himself for being too late to realize that she was his match in every way.

"If I were to give up on you, I'd tell you upfront. But that wouldn't happen, I guess. I've waited-well, pursued you for so long it's a relief that we're finally together. Right?"

Garu stared at her incredulously for a moment before a wide grin spread on his face. He groaned and gathered her to his arms. He felt lightheaded as he looked down at the joyful expression of Pucca.

He leaned his face towards hers but she stopped him.

Garu looked confused for a moment before he looked at her guiltily. "Right, I'd be taking advantage of a sick girl. Sorry."

Pucca laughed hoarsely. "That never even crossed my mind." She laid a hand on his rough cheek. "I just didn't want you to get sick."

"Oh." was all he said before he leaned down and kissed her heated cheek. "There, a compromise."

Garu sat there with her and they talked and laughed like it was the most natural thing for them to do. And Pucca coughing and sneezing and burning all over, never felt much better.

The End


End file.
